Bayfield resident Larry Edmund McKee died from complications of liver cancer Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012, at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango. He was five days shy of his 63rd birthday.

Mr. McKee was born to Robert and Emma McKee on Feb. 10, 1949, in Cypress, Calif. He grew up and attended school in the Cypress area.

In the early 1970s, he married Sheila Thomas in Southern California. The marriage later ended in divorce.

He traveled wherever work would take him from picking apples in Washington to building bridges in Wyoming and high-end construction in Arizona, his family said. He moved to Bayfield in 2004 to live on the property he owned there.

He married Mary Concannon in Phoenix. The marriage later ended in divorce.

An artist who carved wood, musician who played the harmonica and master carpenter, Mr. McKee also loved the mountains, snow skiing, the ocean, books, blues music and riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

“He enjoyed life and cherished his family and friends,” his family said. “With the kindest heart, he would give the shirt off his back and the last dime he had if someone was in need.”

Mr. McKee is survived by his sons Clayton McKee of Paulden, Ariz., Keith McKee of Wilfred, S.D., and Vincent McKee of San Diego; daughters Emma Burns of Fredericksburg, Va., and Megan McKee of Portland, Ore.; brother, Robert McKee, of Gladewater, Texas; nine grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

Cremation will occur. An informal service will be held at the family home in Bayfield.